Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Ghanaian bamboo bike maker explores UK market

The guy Ghanaians reportedly call the bamboo man came to London in
June to promote his handmade bamboo bikes to the UK market. Kwabena Danso is the founder and ceo of Booomers - a range of bikes made in
Ghana and designed to provide the healthier ones among us with a novel way of
getting around. These bikes are also hoped to tackle Ghana's youth unemployment
problem, and promote green transportation. Ok, so these bamboo bikes are not
completely made of bamboo. The frames are, but not the wheels, handles or
gears, and there is no bamboo helmet (yet?!). Nevertheless, the invention has
been eagerly embraced by bike enthusiasts all over Europe, Canada, USA and
Australia. Even the UK's Minister for Foreign Affairs and the figure behind the sponsored London bikes Boris Johnson also had a go on one when he paid a recent visit to Ghana. Danso hasn't stopped riding them since coming to London for the first time in early June and has been quick to extol the benefits of using this form of transport.

Sustainable
One of the biggest appeals that Booomers offers is of course the use of this sustainable
bamboo material, which grows freely across Ghana.
According to research carried out by Columbia University, bamboo grown in Ghana
is among the strongest of its kind in the world, Danso said during a talk organised at the Salmon Centre in Bermondsey, London.
This is something that two sets of couples - one who rode from Germany to China - and the other set that biked it from Germany all over West Africa - can
attest to. In both journeys, the bamboo bikes were still in tact.
Bamboo is known to be equivalent in strength to steel and absorbs up to five
times as much carbon, according to Danso.

Kwabena Danso, ceo of Booomers

Competition
So why aren't people using it more? Well it is a misnomer to think bamboo is
not being used in Ghana already. It is readily used as scaffolding at
construction sites and is an option when making furniture and fencing. And Danso, who established his company in 2014, is by no means the first when it comes to developing bamboo bikes in Ghana. Entrepreneur Bernice Dapaah founded The Ghana Bamboo Bike Initiative in 2009, (although Danso claims the Initiative did not start producing bikes until the latter part of 2015). This award-winning Kumasi-based organisation was a spin-off from the Bright Generation Community Foundation and its Afrocentric Bamboo Ltd arm and has gained the backing of the UN. There is also Bamboo Bike Project which was established by two Columbia University research scientists and involved a collaboration with Kwaku Sarpong - an investor in Kumasi-based business Bamboo Bikes Limited (BBL). It is not clear if this initiative is still active but both BBL and Booomers have a connection to American bike manufacturer Craig Calfee.World dominationDanso initially worked with Calfee, who owned bamboo bike company Bamboosero, in 2009. During the same year, Danso had established the Yonso Project - a social enterprise initiative named after his village that supports tackling social enterprise and youth unemployment. Through the partnership, Calfee trained Yonso locals to manufacture bamboo bike and all bikes were branded with the Bamboosero name. The success of the scheme meant Danso was eventually able to go it along and rebranded production under the Yonso Project to Booomers in 2014.Danso wants to be the biggest manufacturer of
these bamboo bikes. In 2015, the company produced 400 units in 2015, and saw that number triple the following year to 1,200 units - generating $200,000 in 2016. The company manufactures a range of mountain, tricycles and electric versions, according to Danso. He wants Booomers to become a world leader in the bamboo manufacturing industry.

Growing demand

According to United Nations data, the bamboo market is expected to
total $197 million by 2020 and Danso wants Ghana to command a 15% share of
that. He plans to expand his bamboo crop by partnering with farmers to grow the
product. There are concerns that bamboo, which can take around five years to
mature, could promote a mono culture and stop other crops from flourishing. But
Danso said that depends on the type of bamboo used. Some strains can grow
alongside other plants, he insisted.

Humble beginningsDanso
was raised by his grandmother, who saved all the money she had to put him
through education. Danso used to walk eight miles to school having no other form of
transport and knows that decades on, the situation is not much different for
many children still living in his village Yonso, near Mampong, Asante
Region. This was one of the reasons why he established the Yonso Project and has since been able to support the youth in his local village getting to school , learning a trade and a wage through Booomers. Danso employs local unemployed youth and has a
workforce of around 60, which includes casual workers. He has been able to
support young people into higher education, as a result through his charity is
planning to create a centre for them.Despite the popularity of Booomers in the West, the company still hasn't managed crack the African
market. Nine-five per cent of Booomers bikes are shipped to the West with the
remainder being used in Ghana. Danso told MisBeee the company had tried to find a distributor in South Africa but had not yet succeeded. But Danso remains unperturbed and believes that eventually his vision will stimulate a culture change that will be embraced worldwide.By Kirsty Osei-Bempong

All comments are welcome on this page. If you are having trouble posting on the Google+ page, please share your views via Facebook here or tweet @MisBeeePlease be aware that you may not reproduce, republish, modify or commercially exploit this content without our prior written consent.

Popular posts from this blog

Misdiagnosis delayed one London-born teenager’s treatment for Asperger
Syndrome by 17 years until a chance visit to a doctor in Ghana changed her life
for the better.

"Ann-Marie was born in 1998 and she was always
an active and alert baby. I remember my aunty commenting on it,” her mother
Jayne said. “But I thought that was positive.” At six weeks old, Ann-Marie stopped sleeping in
the afternoon and it was increasingly difficult to keep her still. As she grew
older, her behaviour became more unusual.

“I remember on her first day at nursery, her
teacher asked me if she had sight or co-ordination problems. My husband and I
had her assessed but she didn't. "By the time she was four years old, her
cousin, who was also her best friend, left the nursery. That was the first time
that I saw that she struggled. She wasn’t sleeping well at night and would wake
up and stand at the foot of the bed and ask: ‘did I do something wrong, why
can’t I play with my cousin?'"

Should I be jubilating to learn that a total of three films made by
Ghanaians and those from the diaspora will feature at the Film Africa festival
in 2016? Last year there was just one, while in years 2014 and 2013, there were
two films. Even though the number of films showing this year is higher for a third
consecutive year, I will refrain from popping the champagne just yet.

The reason is two-fold. Ghanaian film representation at Film Africa has
never been as good (if you can call that good) as in 2011 when the festival was
first launched and a total of five flicks were showcased. It fell to four in
2012, and has never managed to hit five digits ever since.

Secondly, in the grand scheme of things, the Ghanaian contribution to
films in this festival is meagre when compared to movie heavyweights such as
South Africa. In 2015, the festival showcased 67 narrative features, documentaries,
and short films from across 26 different African countries. Over 20% of those
came from South Africa. …

This piece was updated at 15:00 on 5 December 2016 to include the response from the John Lewis press office (see final paragraph). The blog was originally published at 00:36 on 5 December 2016.

There was a
time – not too long ago - when the airing of the Coca Cola advert in the UK
heralded the start of the Christmas season. But in my opinion, UK high street supermarket
adverts are slowly but surely stealing Coke’s thunder. Anticipating what our
retail chains are going to come out with annually has become a big talking point that
even deserves column inches in our top newspapers.

This
year, the supermarkets did not disappoint. They provided us with liberal helpings
of the stock Christmas ad ingredients: snow; Father Christmas; Turkey with all
the trimmings, presents, the Christmas tree and animals – in recognition of the UK’s pet-loving
culture. So when UK retailer John Lewis unveiled its 2016 contribution on 10 November, I
was pleasantly surprised and pleased to see an all-Black cast. …

Star 100 - a Ghana-focused diaspora network based in London - invited me to share my thoughts on the role of traditional beliefs in Ghanaian culture. The discussion, on 30 September 2016, was entitled Traditional Beliefs and Customary Law, at the Museum of the Order of St John in Clerkenwell, London. The topic is something I have been exploring for some time, particularly during my time living in Ghana. I wanted to share with you my short presentation and invite you to share your views..... Here is an abridged version of a story I wanted to share with you: In the beginning, the universe consisted only of the sky, the water, and
the wild marshlands. God (Obatala) believed
that the world needed more and asked the ruler of the sky and creator of the
sun – the supreme God - (Olorun) for permission to create solid land on Earth.
This lesser God made clay figures in the likeness of himself but grew tired and
became drunk on palm wine, which he passed on to these clay figures – deforming
them. Th…

Traditionally, eating meat has long
been viewed as a sign of affluence in many African cultures and the omission of
meat from the diet - a sign of poverty. So when Ghana-born Ben Asamani chose to
cut out meat, dairy and all meat products, the reaction was predictable.

Initially people thought that at 16 years old, it was a phase he would grow out
of but decades later and Asamani has made a business out of veganism, and is
keen to spread this way of life to others. Vegans do not eat any meat-based
products and animal by-products such as eggs, diary, honey. This also extends
to using leather, silk, wool and cosmetics derived from animals.

Plant-based foods tend to be low in saturated fat, high in fibre and
rich in antioxidants, which can combat against such health risks as obesity,
heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
Other reasons for becoming vegan include a desire to lower exposure to
antibiotics in meat and dairy. There are also the environmental
considerations that growing feed for…

Opinion: Inspiring the next generation

Misdiagnosis delayed one London-born teenager’s treatment for Asperger
Syndrome by 17 years until a chance visit to a doctor in Ghana changed her life
for the better.

"Ann-Marie was born in 1998 and she was always
an active and alert baby. I remember my aunty commenting on it,” her mother
Jayne said. “But I thought that was positive.” At six weeks old, Ann-Marie stopped sleeping in
the afternoon and it was increasingly difficult to keep her still. As she grew
older, her behaviour became more unusual.

“I remember on her first day at nursery, her
teacher asked me if she had sight or co-ordination problems. My husband and I
had her assessed but she didn't. "By the time she was four years old, her
cousin, who was also her best friend, left the nursery. That was the first time
that I saw that she struggled. She wasn’t sleeping well at night and would wake
up and stand at the foot of the bed and ask: ‘did I do something wrong, why
can’t I play with my cousin?'"

Should I be jubilating to learn that a total of three films made by
Ghanaians and those from the diaspora will feature at the Film Africa festival
in 2016? Last year there was just one, while in years 2014 and 2013, there were
two films. Even though the number of films showing this year is higher for a third
consecutive year, I will refrain from popping the champagne just yet.

The reason is two-fold. Ghanaian film representation at Film Africa has
never been as good (if you can call that good) as in 2011 when the festival was
first launched and a total of five flicks were showcased. It fell to four in
2012, and has never managed to hit five digits ever since.

Secondly, in the grand scheme of things, the Ghanaian contribution to
films in this festival is meagre when compared to movie heavyweights such as
South Africa. In 2015, the festival showcased 67 narrative features, documentaries,
and short films from across 26 different African countries. Over 20% of those
came from South Africa. …

This piece was updated at 15:00 on 5 December 2016 to include the response from the John Lewis press office (see final paragraph). The blog was originally published at 00:36 on 5 December 2016.

There was a
time – not too long ago - when the airing of the Coca Cola advert in the UK
heralded the start of the Christmas season. But in my opinion, UK high street supermarket
adverts are slowly but surely stealing Coke’s thunder. Anticipating what our
retail chains are going to come out with annually has become a big talking point that
even deserves column inches in our top newspapers.

This
year, the supermarkets did not disappoint. They provided us with liberal helpings
of the stock Christmas ad ingredients: snow; Father Christmas; Turkey with all
the trimmings, presents, the Christmas tree and animals – in recognition of the UK’s pet-loving
culture. So when UK retailer John Lewis unveiled its 2016 contribution on 10 November, I
was pleasantly surprised and pleased to see an all-Black cast. …

Star 100 - a Ghana-focused diaspora network based in London - invited me to share my thoughts on the role of traditional beliefs in Ghanaian culture. The discussion, on 30 September 2016, was entitled Traditional Beliefs and Customary Law, at the Museum of the Order of St John in Clerkenwell, London. The topic is something I have been exploring for some time, particularly during my time living in Ghana. I wanted to share with you my short presentation and invite you to share your views..... Here is an abridged version of a story I wanted to share with you: In the beginning, the universe consisted only of the sky, the water, and
the wild marshlands. God (Obatala) believed
that the world needed more and asked the ruler of the sky and creator of the
sun – the supreme God - (Olorun) for permission to create solid land on Earth.
This lesser God made clay figures in the likeness of himself but grew tired and
became drunk on palm wine, which he passed on to these clay figures – deforming
them. Th…

Traditionally, eating meat has long
been viewed as a sign of affluence in many African cultures and the omission of
meat from the diet - a sign of poverty. So when Ghana-born Ben Asamani chose to
cut out meat, dairy and all meat products, the reaction was predictable.

Initially people thought that at 16 years old, it was a phase he would grow out
of but decades later and Asamani has made a business out of veganism, and is
keen to spread this way of life to others. Vegans do not eat any meat-based
products and animal by-products such as eggs, diary, honey. This also extends
to using leather, silk, wool and cosmetics derived from animals.

Plant-based foods tend to be low in saturated fat, high in fibre and
rich in antioxidants, which can combat against such health risks as obesity,
heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
Other reasons for becoming vegan include a desire to lower exposure to
antibiotics in meat and dairy. There are also the environmental
considerations that growing feed for…